Socialist Party (Ireland)

This article is about the party founded in 1996. For the party founded in 1904, see Socialist Party of Ireland (1904). For the party founded in 1949, see World Socialist Party (Ireland). For the party founded in 1971, see Socialist Party of Ireland (1971).

Socialist Party
LeaderCollective Leadership
Founded1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Split fromLabour Party
Headquarters141 Thomas Street, Dublin 8, Ireland
NewspaperThe Socialist
Youth wingSocialist Youth
Membership (2016)200 to 500 members[1]
IdeologyDemocratic socialism
Trotskyism[2]
Euroscepticism[3]
Political positionLeft-wing[4] to far-left
National affiliationSolidarity
People Before Profit–Solidarity
CCLA
European affiliationEuropean Anti-Capitalist Left
European Parliament groupGUE/NGL
International affiliationCommittee for a Workers' International (until 2019)
International Socialist Alternative (2019 - 2024)
ColoursRed, white
Dáil Éireann[5]
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Local government in the Republic of Ireland[6]
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Website
socialistparty.ie
socialistpartyni.org (Northern Ireland)

The Socialist Party (Irish: Páirtí Sóisialach) is a political party in Ireland, active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Internationally, it was affiliated to the Trotskyist International Socialist Alternative (previously the Committee for a Workers International) until 2024.

The party has been involved in various populist campaigns including the Anti-Bin Tax Campaign and the Campaign Against Home and Water Taxes. Members of the party were jailed for their part in the former, while members have been arrested for their role in the latter. It had a seat in the European Parliament from 2009 to 2014. In 2015, the party received state funding of €132,000.[7]

From 2014, the party's election candidates in the Republic did not stand for election directly on the Socialist Party platform, but have instead run as candidates of the Anti-Austerity Alliance (AAA), now Solidarity, which was a registered party in its own right between 2014 and 2015 and which continues to contest elections as part of People Before Profit–Solidarity (PBP–S). Socialist Party members Ruth Coppinger, Mick Barry and former member Paul Murphy, were elected in this way as TDs in the 32nd Dáil. Similarly, in 2016 the Socialist Party in Northern Ireland instead fielded candidates in the Cross Community Labour Alternative. In 2022, however, the party ran once again in the North as the Socialist Party.

  1. ^ Dunphy, Richard (2016). "Struggling for Coherence: Irish radical left and nationalist responses to the austerity crisis". Europe's Radical Left: From Marginality to the Mainstream?. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 200. ISBN 9781783485369.
  2. ^ Routledge Handbook of European Elections. Edited by Donatella M.Viola. Published by Routledge. First published in 2016, in Oxon, United Kingdom. Accessed via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Ireland, Brexit and why the EU must be opposed". Socialist Party. 28 June 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2017.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Belfast Telegraph was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Find a TD". Houses of the Oireachtas. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  6. ^ "2019 Local Elections". electionsireland.org. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  7. ^ SIPO – funding of party leaders